Midlander featured on ‘Antiques Roadshow’

Steve Kuhlmann | skuhlmann@mrt.com

Published 6:30 pm, Monday, January 26, 2015

Photo: Tim Fischer

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Wallace Craig and Carolyne Hobby talk about the historical map book of St. Louis he found in his grandparents home and shows some of the hand drawn map pages Friday, 1-16-15. Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram

Wallace Craig and Carolyne Hobby talk about the historical map book of St. Louis he found in his grandparents home and shows some of the hand drawn map pages Friday, 1-16-15. Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram

Photo: Tim Fischer

Midlander featured on ‘Antiques Roadshow’

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It’s not every day you get to walk onto the set of a television show that you’ve watched for years, experiencing what you have seen dozens of others go through before you. But for Midlanders Wallace Craig and Carolyne Hobby, that is exactly what they got — and more — when they went to get an item appraised on PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow” in Austin last year.

“It was just one of those experiences that you’ll always remember because you’ll probably never have that chance again,” Hobby said. “You could tell that (the appraisers) really love being there. They were just mingling with the people when they weren’t working. It was a very nice experience.”

The pair got the opportunity to attend the show when Midlander Steven Porterfield — owner of vintage clothing and jewelry store The Cat’s Meow and occasional appraiser on “Antiques Roadshow” — gave them a pair of tickets to a filming in Austin.

Once he received the tickets, Craig said he knew exactly what he wanted to bring: Nearly two decades earlier, while cleaning up his grandparents’ home in St. Louis, Missouri, he came across a city directory from 1876.

“That I took that book out of his collection, it was luck more than anything because he had a library jam-packed with books,” Craig said. “I just happened to see that one and kind of recognize that, since my parents and all my aunts and uncles grew up in St. Louis, that this would be kind of neat to have as a memento of my parents.”

After bringing the book home, Craig said that, outside of the novelty, he paid little mind to the book or its worth until three or four years ago while entertaining guests from St. Louis who suggested to him that the book may be valuable.

Encouraged by the comments, Craig said he began to research the book on his own. While his searching suggested that the book was in fact valuable, Craig was interested to see what the experts at “Antiques Roadshow” had to say upon an actual inspection.

Sent to the table of appraiser Martin Gammon, Craig said it wasn’t long before he knew he had something special.

“We knew he was interested in it because he got on his computer and started looking up stuff,” Craig said. “Then, after about five minutes he asked if I wanted to be on TV.”

“It was also nice to see the appraiser get so excited because I’m sure they have some long days filled with a lot of stuff,” Hobby added.

After a few hours of preparation — being checked by a producer to make sure he was camera ready, having his hair and make-up done — Craig finally went in front of the camera. After conducting further research, Gammon appraised the directory at $7,000-$9,000.

“Gammon said that this was the tour-de-force of city directories,” Craig said. “He said it was about the best there is.”

Craig and Hobby said the directory was made by sending sketch artists and photographers up in hot air balloons to make the most faithful representations of the city that they could. When the sketches had been made, they added, the artists would then go to each building individually to ensure that all of the details — such as the number windows and doors — were correct.

“It was like the Google Earth of its day,” Craig said. “They put every single building in St. Louis at the time, in 1876, in this directory and then they’d go around and if you wanted to subscribe to the directory, you could have your name put where your company was located. It’s an atlas of the city, it has every single building and it was pretty successful because everybody signed up to get their name in it.”

Hobby said more than anything, the experience showed her that the show is actually how it is portrayed on TV.

“What you see is really how it is, it’s real,” Hobby said. “It’s real people taking their things just like we’ve always watched. It was nice, you don’t feel like you’re being fooled or manipulated. It’s kind of like an old friend because you recognize all of the people and then all of the sudden you get to go and it just feels natural.”

Craig and his book are expected to be featured on an upcoming episode of “Antiques Roadshow.” The show airs 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Mondays on PBS.